UN Offers Incentives for Russia’s Return to Black Sea Grain Deal

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a letter last month that Russia would be eligible to apply for membership and access to the SWIFT banking system for food and fertilizer transactions.

The Russian Agricultural Bank subsidiary in Luxembourg could immediately apply to SWIFT to “effectively enable access” for the bank to the international payments system within 30 days, the United Nations told Russia in a letter, seen by Reuters on Friday.

In an effort to persuade Moscow to return to the U.N.-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative that had allowed the safe export through the Black Sea of Ukrainian grain, Guterres outlined four measures the United Nations could facilitate to improve Russia’s grain and fertilizer exports.

Gutteres told Lavrov the United Nations was immediately ready to move on all measures “based on the clear understanding that their application would lead to the Russian Federation’s return to the Black Sea Initiative and the full resumption of operations.”

A key Russian demand has been the reconnection of the Russian Agricultural Bank, Rosselkhozbank, to the SWIFT international payments system. It was cut off by the European Union in June 2022 after Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed skepticism at the U.N. chief’s proposals in a statement Wednesday.

“Instead of actual exemptions from sanctions, all Russia got was a new dose of promises from the U.N. Secretariat,” it said. “These recent proposals do not contain any new elements and cannot serve as a foundation for making any tangible progress in terms of bringing our agricultural exports back to normal.”

Russia exited the deal in July, a year after it was brokered by the U.N. and Turkey to combat a global food crisis the U.N. said was worsened by Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine and Russia are both leading grain exporters.

Zelenskyy speaks out

In other developments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin masterminded the death of Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in an unexplained plane crash with his top lieutenants last month.

Zelenskyy did not provide evidence to back up the claim he made in passing during a conference in Kyiv when he was asked a question about the Russian president.

“The fact that he killed Prigozhin — at least that’s the information we all have, not any other kind — that also speaks to his rationality, and about the fact that he is weak,” Zelenskyy said.

The Kremlin says all possible causes of the crash will be investigated, including the possibility of foul play. It has called the suggestion that Putin ordered the deaths of Prigozhin and his men an “absolute lie.”

Prigozhin led a short-lived mutiny in Russia in June that Putin characterized as treasonous and a “stab in the back.”

Russian strike

A Russian missile strike hit the central Ukraine town of Kryvyi Rih on Friday, killing a police officer and wounding dozens more, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. Kryvyi Rih is Zelenskyy’s hometown.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s air force shot down 16 out of 20 Iranian-made Shahed drones over Ukraine’s Odesa region, launched from Russia early Friday, according to military officials.

This was the fifth time this week Odesa has been targeted, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on the Telegram messaging app.

In another attack on Friday, at least three people were injured in a Russian strike on the northeastern Ukraine city of Sumy.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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